You can rightly complain about the things which go on inside the White House, the State Department, the Justice Department or the EPA and all of the headline grabbing controversies which erupt from them. None of them, however, may be up to nearly as much mischief as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) though it doesn’t seem to catch the attention of the media nearly as much. This week they were at it again and while a bit on the wonky side, a new wrinkle in the rules could spell big trouble for America’s employers and many, many workers.

The decision in question came in the case of waste management firm Browning-Ferris. The board has found that they can be held liable for the actions and policies of subcontractors providing services to them and even be forced to negotiate with the big labor unions on behalf of those workers, treating them as a “joint employer” of the subcontracted or franchise employees.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Thursday handed down one of its biggest decisions of President Obama’s tenure, ruling that companies can be held responsible for labor violations committed by their contractors.

While the ruling from the independent agency specifically deals with the waste management firm Browning-Ferris, the so-called “joint employer” decision could have broad repercussions for the business world, particularly for franchise companies.

Opponents of the action warn the ruling could hurt businesses as diverse as restaurants, retailers, manufacturers and construction firms, as well as hotels, cleaning services and staffing agencies.

There are two different, primary areas of concern here, both of which will be hit hard by this ruling.

Read the article “Obama’s NLRB Just Redefined the Word ‘Employer’ and It Will Likely Cost Jobs” on hotair.com.